One can only wonder what Bob Russell – not to mention Lord Oakeshott – and especially not to mention the police! – thinks of the Rennard affair!

Should George Osborn become Chancellor of the Exchequer would he tell the taxpaying public “Do as I do”?

If you sold a your house to someone you thought was legitimate but who turned out later to be a crook, would you give the money back to the people he swindled and bankrupt yourself in the process? I don’t think so.

However, if you continually take money from a person who is so evasive he won’t even say where he resides for tax purposes (despite clear rules forbidding overseas donations) like the Tories do at present, I would say that is pretty dodgy.

1) Forced to step down (unlike Osborne, Gove or Lansley, the “front bench flippers”)
2) Money received within the rules and in good faith, so there is no case for giving it back. Anyway, as Joe Otten says, it has already been spent, on legitimate party expenses, not for personal gain, unlike Osborne’s money.
3) On the subject of party funding, when are the Tories going to come clean about Lord Ashcroft and also back an end to this current corrupt system where the rich simply buy votes through massive donations? Never, I suspect. How sleazy of them.

http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/george-osborne/George_Osborne_0708_IEP.pdf

Pages 121, 196, 244 (£1000 in one go), 309 (£500)…

Also p254 – employing a whole Conservative Association as a secretary. Might be legit.

p404 charging legal fees – for unspecified purpose – to the staffing allowance. Might be legit.

1)What action the Lib Dems have taken against Lord Rennard and whether or not the £41,000 he claimed for a second home has been reimbursed to the taxpayer?

2) When can the innocent individuals who were swindled by your now jailed donor expect to get their £2 million reimbursed?